Growing in our Personal Life

Main menu

Tag Archives: philosophy

God’s invisible attributes, eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen in His Creation (Revelation 4:11). This takes away a person’s excuse for not believing in Him as their Savior.

We instinctively know that there is a God and that we should serve Him with all of our emotions, mind, choices and physical strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).

Yet, so many do not honor God or appreciate Him. They pursue futile activities, endless philosophies and fruitless enlightenment and their hearts darken further with each passing day. They think they are wise, but they are actually very foolish (Romans 1:20-22).

Authentic Believers trust in, rely on and believe in Christ even if we end up suffering for the sake of His righteousness. We learn to explain and defend our beliefs to those who ask us about the hope we have in Him.

Yet, we never impose our beliefs on someone who is clearly not interested in them (1 Peter 3:14-16). There is no point if the Holy Spirit is not drawing them to God. We never badger anyone about coming to Christ.

We share Jesus with gentleness, respect for the listener and a good conscience; even if someone slanders our good name or reviles our good behavior in Christ.

We are created for God’s glory and service, and we will spend all of eternity worshiping our worthy Lamb who was slain in our place. For now, we live for His glory while we dwell on this earth and do only those works for which He created us to perform (Ephesians 2:10).

Prayer:
Father God, break the yoke of bondage that our flesh feels to sin and replace our weaknesses with Your strengths. Help us to decrease so that You may increase. We praise You as our living Lord and thank You for giving us Your Spirit to abide within us all the days of our life.

You are the only one worthy of all honor, respect, praise, glory, wisdom, might and blessing. We look forward to joining the myriads of angels already around the throne in singing Your praises (Revelation 5:12). Lead us to share Christ with those whom You are drawing to Yourself.

Thought for the Day:
The abiding Holy Spirit teaches us to follow His lead as we share Christ with friends, relatives, associates and neighbors; so that we do not push too hard, ignore their body language or fail to read the feelings of their soul in their eyes.

If the Gospel of Christ is not true, then there is no forgiveness or reconciliation for our sins and we have no resurrection to look forward to. We have no joy for our current life or for the next, and there is no expectation of living in the Father’s house in the future (Romans 10:9; I Corinthians 15:17-19; John 14:1-2, 12). Life without Christ is a life without hope.

There are countless people experiencing depression and mid-life insecurities because they place their hope in our culture, a bank account, a philosophy, their employment or worldly religions. This house of cards is shaky at best, and the ensuing insecurity drives people insane, gives them heart attacks or destroys their relationships.

However, the Gospel of Christ is gloriously true. Jesus suffered and died to set us free from Satan, the flesh, sin and death. We now have hope for tomorrow. As we walk in the light of God’s Truth, we have no fear of darkness or evil, because Christ in the authentic Believer overcame Satan and evil on Calvary’s cross. Even negative aspects of life now work out for our good (Romans 8:28).

A life based on God’s Word has a stable and firm foundation (2 Timothy 2:19). As we walk by the direction and power of God’s Spirit, we will not fulfill the dictates of the devil or the flesh, but we will luxuriate in the continual blessings of God (Galatians 5:15-26). As we focus on His plans for our life with a pure heart, He uses us according to His will (Psalm 51:10; Ephesians 2:10).

Prayer:
Father God, thank You for giving us the opportunity to live in Christ and to become a new creation. We rejoice that our old habits, sins, negative emotions and personality are made new by Your Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17). When we trust You with our life, You destroy the deprivation, which devastated us and You mature us in the likeness of Your Son (Romans 8:29). Thank You for claiming us as Your own and for making it possible for us to spend eternity with You.

Thought for the Day:
Therefore, even when we are simply eating or drinking, or whatever we decide God wants us to do, we do it all for His glory.
– 1 Corinthians 10:31

There are people who live in every generation who want to know God. They explore several venues provided by Satan and his minions, and many are taken captive by empty philosophies and spiritual sounding half-truths, which come from human traditions and the god of this world, rather than from God Himself (Colossians 2:8). These people stop short of the truth; and, instead, cheerfully believe a lie.

Then there are those who claim to know Christ as their Savior, but they have not made Him the Lord of their life. He is their helper and their insurance policy in times of trouble; they trust Him and they believe in Him, but He is not their Master and King. They have not yet come to a place of absolute surrender of every known area of their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

However, if we want to live in a place of perfect peace, we will keep our mind constantly in tune with the Spirit of God (Isaiah 26:3). We will do the works, which God created for us to do. We will seek His pleasure in all things, rather than to seek our own pleasure in this life (Ephesians 2:10). Believers realize that the temporal, earthly aspects of this life are all passing away and only the eternal components will last.

Believers are living stones, fitted together into the dwelling place of God (1 Peter 2:5). We walk worthy of the calling He gives us (Ephesians 4:1). We avoid sin and deprivation by walking toward the Light of life (John 1:4; Matthew 5:16). Jesus died in our place and gives us the victory over both sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:57). We have faith in His faithfulness and walk in His divine power within us (2 Peter 1:3).

Prayer:
Father God, I totally surrender every part of my life to You. I want You to have it all. I want to walk in Your divine will and to do the works You created for me before I was ever born (Ephesians 2:10). I devote my every waking moment to You to use at work, at home and at play. Fill my heart with Your love for those You want to love through me.

Thought for the Day:
Everything in our life, which we surrender to God’s control, will come back to us refined and renewed.

After thousands of years of research and study, historians, archeologists, philosophers and scientists are proving that the claims of the Bible, authored by God, are accurate and true. We see obvious confirmations in astronomical, anthropological, archeological, biological, chemical and geological facts. The Bible is filled with truth, which scientist took thousands of years to discover and are now proving.

Of course, the biggest proof, which Columbus helped to confirm, is that the earth is round and that it is supported by nothing but gravity from the sun (Job 26:7; Isaiah 40:22; Psalm 103:12). Astronomers are proving what the Bible also states: that the stars are innumerable (Jeremiah 33:22; Genesis 22:17), differ in their brilliancy and life span (1 Corinthians 15:41), follow a predictable course, and cluster in constellations and galaxies (Jeremiah 31:35; Job 9:9).

For years, anthropologists debated whether the human race originated from one source. Today, DNA and genetics authenticate what the Bible claimed all along, that we came from one man and one woman (Genesis 3:20; 1 Corinthians 15:54; Acts 17:26). The various races came when God scattered the inhabitants of the known world across the whole earth (Genesis 11:1-9).

Evolution claims that all of life came from a single cell. However, the Bible claims that God created everything “after it’s own kind.” Biology confirmed that blood circulation, complex protein sequences in DNA – which are unique with each individual, fossil records and the lack of proof of evolutionary links in any discovery to date, all substantiate that God created each species as uniquely special (Leviticus 17:11).

The study of geology, with today’s scientific methods, corroborate that fossil records validate the Biblical claim that a catastrophic flood annihilated life and petrified life forms at that time. This confirms scripture found in Ecclesiastes 1:7, Isaiah 55:10, Psalm 8:8 and Genesis 7:11. God gives us accurate predictions of future events, so that we do not fear the future.

Even with all of this proof, human pride resists believing in the Biblical accounts, because they would have to submit to Almighty God. They prefer trusting in human reasoning, even though there are missing links in every human theory (Romans 1:21; 2 Peter 3:5). They believe they are in control of their own destiny, and use limited knowledge to purport their theories as facts. They receive worldwide acclaim for what is nothing more than ignorance of God’s Truth.

False prophets and prognosticators help to dilute God’s truth, because people dismiss the accuracy of Bible prophecy due to suppositions by sources such as the Mayans and Nostradamus. Yet, just in the book of Daniel we see the perfect prediction of the course of Middle Eastern society for five entire centuries (Daniel 7:6, 8:5-8, 11:2-4). God’s Word is Truth and we can stake our life on it.

Prayer:

Father God, You love us so much, and understand our human penchant to need to see proof so well, that You gave us the Bible full of facts and figures to convince even the most uneducated person that Your Word is Truth. Yet, people continue to allow Satan’s lies to distract them from believing in You for their salvation (2 Timothy 4:4). In the end, even the most hardened skeptic will bow their knee to King Jesus, even those who condemn themselves to hell by their unbelief (Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:10; John 3:18)

Thought for the Day:

Biblical truth has been verified continuously over the years by every historic, archeological, philosophical and scientific discovery made by mankind. – Isaiah 41:21-23, 48:3-5

Our human penchant for self-centeredness and rebellion stems from our pride. Pride is the downfall of every human being. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). This is what caused Adam and Eve to believe the serpent’s lie that they could be like God. Mankind still wants to be like god, and many New Age religions promote this falsehood, as if saying or believing it will make it so.

The wonderful news of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ dwells within us and gives us the nature of God, as we are led by God’s Spirit. He also gave us His Word, which is His ultimate wisdom. Over the years, hundreds of Biblical prophecies were fulfilled just as they were predicted to occur (Isaiah 42:9). This proves that the Bible is true and trustworthy. We can stake our life and our eternity on it.

God’s Word also informs us of historical and scientific facts, which it took humans years to discover using experiments and research. These scientists and historians validated the scriptures as the result of their studies and tests. Actually, the truth was in front of them all along! Even today, mankind is still finding answers to age-old questions in the pages of the Bible.

Prophecy, history, archeology and science continually prove the veracity of the Bible (Psalm 119:160). We can believe it, because its words are true (John 3:12). God, Creator of heaven and earth, gave us the answers to our origin and our destiny, which people of every generation still ponder. Archeologists uncover, almost daily, the proof of Biblical claims. Yet many are still too proud to believe.

Prayer:

Father God, there is no reason that we should allow our pride to prevent us from accepting Jesus as our Savior. We thank You for bringing us to our knees through the circumstances in our life. You humble us for our benefit, and then You bless us for our humility. You are an amazing and loving Father, and we cannot find anyone or any philosophy, which mankind invented, that fulfills us and completes us like You do (Colossians 2:10). You gave us Jesus as our sacrificial Lamb and He dwells within us by Your Spirit.

Thought for the Day:

With specific details, simple truth, and flawless precision, God’s Word consistently reveals to us the origin of our past and the destination of our future.

We are given every opportunity as we grow up from childhood to compete with others in athletics, games, grades, hobbies and even dating. We covet the first place award, and we are so disappointed when we achieve anything less. This drive to reach perfection will drive us into an early grave. It makes us think that we can control our life and the outcome of every endeavor.

We soon learn, through a series of hard knocks, that we cannot control everything. Rather than give us relief, we allow this fact to demean us in our own eyes. We see others who always win; therefore, we must be less in every way than they are. Satan makes sure that we do not recognize that there are many others who are not in first place either.

There can only be one first place winner, and everyone else is second rate at best. Therefore, rather than allowing Satan to accuse us with this fact, allow it to be a comfort, realizing that most people do not achieve first place, but we are all winners if we are IN CHRIST. This way we can rejoice with people who do win, and comfort those who do not.

We have no reason to deride our self or to feel belittled in any way, because even the winners will lose sometimes. They cannot win at everything they try. The real goal is not to win, but to do our best. If you did your best, then no one, not even your self, can expect anything more from you than your best. It is only when we do not do our best that we deserve to come in second best.

John warns us about the boastful pride of life and points out that this does not come from God, but from the philosophy of the world (1 John 2:16). Satan is the god of this world, and he thinks that he owns the kingdoms of this world. The truth is that God gave the government of the earth to mankind, and Adam relinquished his position by believing Satan’s lie.

We do this same thing every day. We believe Satan’s lies as truth and we discount the Word of God. In truth, King Jesus now has all power and authority both in heaven and on earth. He lives within us and we abide in Him as He abides in us. All the power of the Godhead dwells inside of our spirit; and we can tap into it and share it with the world around us.

Prayer:
Father God, open the eyes of our heart and let us see You. You are high and lifted up and the earth is simply Your footstool (Isaiah 66:1). Teach us that there is nothing in this world that is more valuable than our relationship with You. Remind us that as King’s kids, we are all winners because of what our brother Jesus did for us on Calvary’s cross (Matthew 4:10).

Thought for the Day:
Never think that you can handle life on your own; seek God in all of your circumstances, plans, goals and decisions. – Proverbs 3:5-6

Who is really in charge of your life? Can you actually find fulfillment or control your destiny by living life “your way”? Life has a way of destroying our plans. We delude our self when we think that we can manage or direct our life. In the decisions we make, we will either obey our selfish flesh, the deceitful devil or God. It is totally unprofitable to surrender our life to anyone other than God.

We humans have a need to make our own way in the world, so we often reject the teachings of our youth and incorporate what we learn in college and in the workplace as our own philosophy. We deludedly think that we can do with our life whatever feels good to us. We often dabble in various venues to see how they fit. Deciding who we are and how we blend into our world often takes a lifetime.

We make what we think are wise decisions, but the consequences of those choices, along with unforeseen events, may end up crippling us. There are so many ideals, philosophies, needs and powers at work in our world. Thankfully, God continually provides us with a fork in our road. He gives us many opportunities to walk away from the world and into His waiting, everlasting arms.

If we have the courage to surrender to His love, we have His peace. However, God does not accept half-hearted devotion. He wants the dedication of a bondservant (Deuteronomy 15:16-17). He came to earth in human form to lay down His life for us, and He wants an equal commitment from us. So, we voluntarily lay down our life for Him (1 Corinthians 7:22-23), and surrender our pride and rebellion to Christ.

Prayer:
Father God, throughout His lifetime Jesus frequently prayed to You. He communed with You in the same way that we do – without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We can enjoy sweet fellowship with the Trinity as we carpool the kids, clean the house, work at the office, build homes, repair cars, wait on tables and perform every other aspect of our life. You sustain us through whatever life brings our way.

Thought for the Day:
“The world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” – 1 John 2:15-17